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Sabar Lal Melma
Sabar Lal Melma is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006 Sabar Lal Melma's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 801. American intelligence analysts estimate that Sabar Lal Melma was born in 1962, Darya-e-Pech, Afghanistan. Combatant Status Review Tribunal s were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirrorInside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004 Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed. ]] Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a competent tribunal to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant. Sabar Lal Melma chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Sabar Lal Melma's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 49-62 Allegations The allegations Saber Lal Melma faced during his Tribunal were: Administrative Review Board hearing Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant". They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat—or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free. Sabar Lal Melma chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Sabar Lal Melma's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 248 - August 10, 2005 Factors for and against continued detention *''The detainee is a Brigadier General in the Afghan military. He is suspected of assisting al Qaeda members to escape from Tora Bora into Pakistan. He was a commander of 600 border security troops in Konar, Afghanistan. *''The detainee is a member of Jamiat-e-Dawa-el-al-Qurani Wasouna (JDQ). *''The detainee has met with Haji Rohullah, leader of Jamiat-e-Dawa-el-al Qurani Wasouna , and Loya Jirga, representative for the Konar region, on numerous occasions. *''Jamiat-ul-Dawa-ul-Qurani , an Islamic extremist group with ties to the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate, consisted of Afghan refugees from camps in the Peshawar area. This organization supported the continued war in Kashmir. *''The detainee’s military service includes being appointed the title of Brigadier General due to his experience fighting against the Soviet Union and the Taliban. *''During the fight against the Taliban, the detainee was Nasruldeen’s commander. Nasruldeen was allegedly responsible for attacks on government and coalition entities. *''The detainee knew Faquirullah. He knew Faquirullah was possibly involved with the Jam’ at Islami, was a high level commander for the Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), and a dedicated Mujahideen. *''HIG has long-established ties with Osama bin Ladin. In the early 1990s, it ran several terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and pioneered sending mercenary fighters to other Islamic conflicts. It offered shelter to Osama bin Ladin after the latter fled Sudan in 1996. *''The detainee met Ali (NFT) twice in the Konar region, and twice in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The detainee confirmed Ali was a member of the Hezb-e-Islami Khalis under Yunis Khalis. *''Around 15–16 November 2001, nine Arabs, two of whom were wounded, fled Tora Bora for Konar Province, Afghanistan. The detainee assigned one of his leaders to personally handle the security for the Arabs. *''The detainee arranged for the nine men to be transferred to his fort, where they awaited the arrival of Haji Rohullah. When he arrived, Rohullah provided the detainee with an unspecified amount of money and instructions to smuggle the Arabs in Pakistan. The Arabs’ weapons and the truck were given to the detainee as a reward. *''The detainee denied having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on September 11 and also denied having knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the United States. Repatriation Sabar Lal Melma was repatraited on September 28, 2007, along with five other Afghans, a Libyan captive and a Yemeni captive. The Center for Constitutional Rights reports that all of the Afghans repatriated to Afghanistan from April 2007 were sent to Afghan custody in the American built and supervised wing of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison near Kabul. mirror McClatchy interview On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Sabar Lal. mirror mirror mirror mirror mirror mirror mirror Sabar Lal said he had been an anti-Taliban fighter during their administration, that he suffered a gun-shot wound during his opposition to the Taliban, and that he had helped oust the Taliban during the American invasion. Lal reported being subjected to sleep deprivation in Bagram. The McClatchy report quoted an Afghan official named Mohammed Roze, who acknowledged Lal had served as the commander of a border patrol, but that he nevertheless belonged in Guantanamo, because he had bombarded settlements full of civilians during regional disputes. The report quoted Mateullah Khan, the chief of police of Konar Province who asserted Sabar Lal had helped militants escape. But the report also quoted Jonathan Horowitz, an investigator with a human rights group, who had secured access to Lal's confidential file. He said it contained practically no evidence to back up the allegations against him. References External links *McClatchy News Service - video * * The Anonymous Victims Of Guantánamo: Eight More Wrongly Imprisoned Men Are Quietly Released Andy Worthington Category:Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Category:Living people Category:Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Block D, Pul-e-Charkhi prison Category:Year of birth uncertain